Bell Labs Reading List

Unlike the inner workings of a lot of 20th-century companies, there is a fair amount written about Bell Labs, some of it excellent. As usual, the "recommended reading" section includes books that are both useful references and actually interesting to read, while the "other sources" section includes sources that I found useful but are likely uninteresting for anyone not doing a research project.

Recommended reading:

The Idea Factory by Jon Gertner, 2012 - I resisted reading this for a while because it seemed to be so popular that I mentally categorized it as "pop-sci" and thus not worth reading. But it's as good as everyone says, the rare book (like The Box) that's a useful academic reference and also a gripping, compelling read. Gertner looks at the history of Bell Labs through the careers of some of its most prominent and important staff members (such as Claude Shannon, Mervin Kelly, and John Pierce), which is as good a mechanism as any for paring down nearly 100 years of Bell Labs history. If you read one book about Bell Labs, it should be this one.